


Late Night Hangout

by NerdyPanda3126



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Aged-Up Character(s), Best Friends, Dorks in Love, Eventual Fluff, F/M, Identity Reveal, Light Angst, Pre-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:28:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22670065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdyPanda3126/pseuds/NerdyPanda3126
Summary: In which Marinette gets tipsy enough to actually listen to Alya's "Adrien is Chat Noir" theory.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe
Comments: 88
Kudos: 662





	1. The Bell Incident

Another late night hangout at Alya’s. There have been so many at this point that Adrien has lost count. This is the first one though that Marinette has been drinking. He watches fondly as Marinette and Alya fight over her phone, both of them giggling and falling onto the couch.

“Come on, Alya, not this again!” Marinette drapes herself dramatically over Alya’s lap and makes another swipe for the phone. Alya lifts the phone above her head, still trying to undo her lock screen.

“You know I’m right.” Alya tries the lock pattern again, unsuccessfully again. She huffs and tosses the phone to the carpeted floor. Adrien winces. Not something sober Alya would do.

“Your photoshopped pictures don’t prove anything.” Mari pouts, then giggles at some private thought. Adrien is fascinated.

“You’re telling me that after all these years, you still don’t think Adrien looks even a teensy bit like Chat Noir?”

Adrien smiles to himself. They’ve had this argument many times over the years. He’s gotten good at deflecting their questions and making them doubt. Plus Marinette is always on the opposition and Alya never remembers her ‘proof’ the next day anyways. Usually this topic leads to an adorably flustered Marinette and several shy glances his way.

“Pff. As if. Adrien is way hotter than Chat Noir.”

That catches his attention. This is a new argument from Marinette. Marinette pulls herself off Alya’s lap and sits cross legged on the couch. They both seem to have forgotten he was in the room.

“Come on, Mari. Picture it. Adrien, but in leather.”

Adrien can feel his face heat up. He should not be hearing this conversation, nope. But as he turns to escape into the kitchen, Nino is standing behind him, blocking his way, and holding two beers. He raises his eyebrows at Adrien and gestures to the girls on the couch.

“Are they at it again?” Nino asks.

“As per usual.”

Nino hands him a beer and Adrien tries to move around him, subtly, but Nino slouches against the doorframe. Is he blocking the escape route on purpose? Nino looks pointedly at the girls and Adrien decides that yes, he is. He’s stuck listening to this now.

When he looks back at them, Mari has flushed bright tomato red, but she’s looking at him. Hopefully not picturing what Alya had suggested, but the blush on her face suggests otherwise.

“You’re right, Adrien in leather would be pretty hot.” She’s staring at him in the eyes when she says this. And Adrien’s dead. Adrien.exe has stopped functioning. His mouth opens, and he tries to close it, but it opens again like a fish. Marinette giggles and looks back at Alya.

“Still, there’s no way that Adrien is Chat Noir.” She laughs to herself, then looks quiet and thoughtful. “Adrien is Chat Noir…” she almost whispers. Then she looks back at Adrien. He’s pretty sure he still has that dumb look on his face. He rights himself and smiles, waving his hands in what he knows is a too defensive gesture. But her eyes are on him and her blush has cleared and she looks like she’s seeing him for the first time.

Behind him, Nino nudges his ribs. “Dude, breathe or something.”

He does, but his head feels lighter than it did before he took a breath. Alya is watching him triumphantly. Being flustered will not help him right now. He thinks of Ladybug kicking the living daylights out of him for putting Marinette in danger. He can do this, just tread lightly.

“Come on, guys, there’s no way I could pull that costume off.”

Marinette squeaks and goes red again. He leans against the wall opposite Nino, doing his best ‘casual photoshoot’ pose.

“But you have, you know. There’s the Clara Nightingale tryouts.” Alya points out helpfully. "Plus, didn't you do the voice acting for Chat Noir in that movie?"

“Yeah, because I was 14 and under my dad’s thumb.” Adrien rolls his eyes at this and the group winces. “Those were publicity stunts, Alya, and they worked, by the way.”

Marinette has gone oddly quiet. Battling Alya’s conspiracy theories was easy at this point, but Marinette has never been on the same side before. Uncharted territory, this.

“There’s one way to know for sure.” Marinette says this so quietly that Adrien just barely hears her. He holds his breath. What could Marinette know about Chat Noir that would give him away? He racks his memory for the few times they’ve been together when he was in costume. He can’t slip now.

Marinette looks up at him, the flush on her face due to more than the alcohol. “What do you think of the bell on Chat’s costume?” She deals this question evenly, but her eyes are sparking. The response bubbles out of him before he can stop it.

“Aw, come on, the bell’s my favorite part!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the idea that maybe if Marinette's inhibitions were lower she might put two and two together. I imagined them being four or five years older and still not revealing themselves, no thanks to Alya's incessant pushing. I have no clue where Hawkmoth is in this fic, but Adrien is apparently liberated. Thank you for reading!


	2. Here's your shovel, start digging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien tries desperately to throw his friends off his trail, but he might end up digging a bigger hole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As requested, the aftermath of the bell incident! First off, thank you all so much for your kudos and comments! I'm new to writing fanfiction, and I was completely humbled by the response this piece got. Seriously, didn't stop smiling all night long.  
> Secondly, I had most of this fleshed out in my brain, but it fought me a little to get onto the page. I wanted to have the group just kind of screwing around and having fun, and this is the result. Hope you like it!

He clamps his mouth shut as soon as he says it. Smooth move, Agreste, but you can dig yourself out. Liking the bell isn’t absolute proof—despite what Mari thinks—he could just be a Chat Noir fan. Marinette’s mouth drops open.

Alya jumps up and pumps her fist in the air. “Yes, I knew it, I knew it! Marinette has finally joined the bandwagon.”

Marinette is still staring at him. He shrugs, trying to look indifferent. “I mean, without the bell, it’s just the black suit and a belt, right? The bell makes it clear that he’s a black cat.” He hopes he sounds nonchalant.

“He has ears too, ya know. Like cat ears. The bell is just unnecessary,” Nino pipes up across from him.

Adrien wants to glare daggers at him. Really not helping his case here. But he shrugs again. The more he can veer the conversation away from himself, make it theoretical, the better.

“Not completely, it has helped Ladybug out before, like with that akumatized baby?” This is bait for Alya to take it and run with it. She always loves rehashing akumas.

Marinette bursts into a fit of giggles. All three of them turn to look at her.

“Parisian lollipop,” Marinette finally chokes out, leaning over to hide her face in the couch cushions and continue laughing. Alya rolls her eyes fondly at her friend. Adrien takes a swig of his warming beer, hoping the worst is over and they can all move on. But of course Alya isn’t satisfied yet.

“Hey, Mari, why the bell?”

“Hmm?” Marinette pulls herself back upright, but Adrien can tell it’s a struggle.

“The bell, why was that the sure way to tell?”

Marinette shrugs. “Chat likes his bell. Every time Ladybug rings it, it makes him happy.”

“How do you know that?” Adrien answers too quickly again. Damn it. He takes another drink to stop his word vomit. Alya grins at him mischievously.

“I thought it was obvious?” Marinette stifles a yawn. “I don't know, I'm sure Alya has a picture of it floating around somewhere.”

Alya scoops up her phone from the carpet and does the lock pattern successfully this time. She gets absorbed in searching for Marinette’s reference. As soon as Alya touched the phone, though, Marinette didn’t look tired anymore. She has a laser focus on Alya. Why? If she’s seen the picture, then why would she be so concerned if Alya finds it? Adrien finds that he’s focused on Alya, too. If there’s not a picture, how else would Marinette know that about him?

Marinette is off the couch, but she’s unsteady in her hurry and she fumbles, catching herself at the last moment right in front of Alya. Alya blinks at her with her finger paused over her phone screen.

“Well, maybe we shouldn’t be guessing about their identities, anyways!” Marinette says, a little too brightly, Adrien notes.

“Who’s guessing?” Alya lowers her phone and Marinette relaxes. “I’m willing to bet on it.”

Oh no. Adrien has a very bad feeling about this.

“Hey, Agreste, I dare you. Your best Chat Noir impression. Right here, right now.”

Adrien hesitates. On the one hand, Ladybug would murder him if she finds out about this. On the other hand, if he refuses, they'll think it's a confirmation. Chat Noir would never do something that would outright reveal himself like that. Okay, just steer into it then. Act as lame as possible. He flashes Alya his best Chat-like smirk.

“And the terms?”

“Terms?”

“Of the bet, of course. I do your dare, what’s in it for me?”

Alya thinks for a moment, tapping her chin. “I’ll buy you anything you want from Mari’s parents’ bakery.”

“Deal.” He smirks again, downs his drink, then ruffles his hair, handing the empty bottle to Nino. Here goes nothing.

He saunters up to Marinette, doing his best to overexaggerate his shoulder movements. Chat has a lithe swagger, so Adrien bounces on his toes instead, pausing at the top of the movement. He swoops down into a bow to capture Marinette’s hand and presses it against his lips. “Why, who’s this purrrty lady?” He prances around her, preening and flexing like Chat Noir has for her before. “I’m feline like the cat’s meow!” Even he’s cringing at his pun use, but at least Marinette is laughing.

He hears Alya’s phone snap a picture and he hopes she’ll send it to him. He feels pretty ridiculous outside of the costume, but that’s the point anyways. He decides he’ll get Alya a great picture of Marinette being totally flustered, so he leans into Marinette’s face, smirking. “Aren’t I irresistible without the mask?” He throws in an eyebrow waggle for good measure. She goes beet red. Yup, there’s the snap of the camera.

But then Marinette pushes him back by the nose. The motion is automatic, and it takes them both by surprise.

For a solid minute, their eyes lock. And Adrien notices how her eyes are like bluebells.


	3. Go Fish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien tries to fish for information, but Marinette has something she needs to say.

The snap of Alya’s camera brings them both back to the present. Marinette yanks her hand away from Adrien’s nose and hides it behind her hip, as if she can hide the evidence. Adrien’s hand finds the nape of his neck and he smiles sheepishly at her.

Alya snaps another picture and at this point Adrien is just annoyed at her. He drops his arm and turns to face her, trying not to scowl. She’s smiling at the evidence on her phone.

“Wow, for a second there, you both really got into character, huh?” Her hands go to her hips and she leans forward. Adrien recognizes this as her ‘Come on, spill’ pose. His eyes flick to the phone at Alya’s hip. If Marinette really is Ladybug, then this conversation should not happen in front of the group, particularly not in front of the Ladyblogger. He needs to deflect attention from her.

“You did say my best impression.” Adrien reaches up to fix his hair, smiling. “I believe pastries are warranted.” He beckons to her in a ‘pay up’ motion.

“Yeah, yeah, you’ll get ‘em.” Alya waves him off and flops down on the couch, swiping through the photos she had taken.

He looks back to Mari and she’s not meeting his eyes. He might’ve pushed a little too far.

“I need another drink,” he says gently, leaving an unspoken invitation in the air. She blinks and lifts her head and he wills her to catch his meaning.

She nods. “Yeah, me too,” she says quietly.

He takes her wrist and starts to tug her towards the kitchen. Nino pushes off the doorframe and walks over to sit next to Alya. As they pass, Nino nods at him and Adrien wonders, not for the first time, how much Nino knows that he doesn’t let on.

Once they reach the kitchen, Adrien lets go of her and grabs another beer from the fridge, popping it open easily. She busies herself with mixing a drink. Where to start? Hey, this may sound really weird, but I think you might be Ladybug, but you’re also my best friend and I don’t want to make this weird, and I know you don’t want to know, but I actually am Chat Noir? He shakes his head and takes a drink of his beer instead. Marinette stops and leans on the counter across from him and there’s a heavy silence between them.

“So, you think I’d look hot in leather, huh?” That’s great, Adrien, put her on the defensive. Now she’ll never try to talk to you alone again.

She nearly drops the bottle she’s holding, fumbling it twice before catching it and pausing. She sets it on the counter behind her carefully and takes a deep breath. He can't help a low chuckle from slipping out. When she meets his eyes, he can feel the blush creep up his cheeks. He could’ve sworn her eyes weren’t that blue before.

“Well, I mean, like you’d be hot, as in you’d feel hot because leather is hot—or so I’ve heard. Not that you wouldn’t look hot, but you’d look…”

He waits for her to finish her thought, but she’s stopped. She’s just stopped and she’s staring at him again. Then she shakes her head and squares her shoulders. She looks like she’s about to punch him. He braces himself for impact.

But she shakes her head again, sighing deeply, and turns back to making her drink. It feels like the air has been let out of the room. One more push, he decides, and if she doesn’t want to go there then he’ll drop it. He moves to lean back against the same counter she’s working on so he can get a glimpse of her face. Casual, Adrien, keep it casual.

“You made a pretty good Ladybug to my Chat Noir out there.” He takes a sip of his drink, watching her reaction from the corner of his eye.

Her shoulders stiffen, but he can tell she’s working on keeping her face neutral. She returns the bottle to its hiding place and leans against the counter with him, holding her glass between her hands.

“You made a pretty good Chat Noir in the first place,” she answers him in a measured voice. He can feel his heart pounding in his chest, but he wills himself to be patient.

“You know him well? Chat Noir?”

“We’ve bumped into each other a few times.”

He can’t help but notice how guarded her answers are. She doesn’t like this topic. But he can’t bring himself to let it go. She twirls her glass between her hands and the ice clinks as the glass spins.

“Didn’t you have a crush on him or something? Alya said you had him over for brunch that one time.”

She snorts. “Yeah, I had a crush.” Adrien is shocked by the sourness of her tone. But he’s more shocked when she downs her drink and squares her shoulders again. “But it wasn’t a crush on Chat Noir, Adrien. I had a crush on you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adrien is learning way too much tonight, but liquid courage seems to be doing wonders for Marinette lol thank you for reading!


	4. Shattered Glass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are not happening the way Adrien thought they would.

As soon as the words leave her mouth, Marinette claps a hand over her lips. Her eyes widen and she pales beautifully.

“Oh, I didn’t mean—I mean, I did mean, but I wasn’t going to—oh, this is a disaster! A disaster, a disaster!”

It’s almost a reflex at this point for Adrien to reach out to her, his hand falling on her shoulder, to get her to look up at him. Her lips part in surprise. He tells himself to focus on her eyes instead, but that’s not helpful either.

“Marinette, I’ve known you had a crush on me since we were like 16.”

“You…knew?”

He nods, smiling in what he hopes is a reassuring way. “I’d have to be pretty oblivious not to.” He can see the emotions flicker across her face in turn, confusion, comprehension, surprise, brief happiness, then back to confusion.

“If you knew, why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“Honestly, I was so afraid of losing our friendship, of losing you, that I didn’t want to push anything.” He pauses, watching her process this new information. “I knew you’d tell me when you were ready.”

“You mean to tell me,” she starts but seems hesitant to finish her thought. “You mean you let me torture myself about telling you, all this time, and you never said anything?” Her voice shakes. In anger? She’s angry with him?

He didn’t know what he expected, but anger was not the first thing that came to mind. He lets go of her and backs away, his hand flying back to the nape of his neck. His movement startles Marinette and she releases her grip on the glass she was holding. It shatters on the floor with a crash and they both jump back to avoid the shrapnel.

There’s too much space between them now, and Adrien hates it. Marinette is glaring at him.

“To be fair, you technically already confessed to me like 5 years ago!” In his panic to make Marinette not hate him, his tone comes out sharper than he intended. At least Marinette isn’t glaring at him anymore. She has gone pale again, but now she just looks horrified.

The ice on the floor is melting, so Adrien sets his drink down, grabs a towel, and starts to pick up the pieces of glass and ice as carefully as he can. He tells himself he’s not avoiding talking about this, just cleaning up the mess he made.

“What is going on in here?” Alya hangs in the doorway.

Is it possible to groan internally? Marinette doesn’t answer her. Adrien looks up from his position on the floor and he watches Alya take in the scene. Marinette standing stock-still in front of him, her face ashen. Adrien kneeling at her feet and holding a towel full of broken glass and ice. The pool of liquid on the floor between them. Thankfully, for once in her life, Alya doesn’t push her questions on them. She just raises her eyebrows and walks away. Adrien hadn’t noticed he was holding his breath until she left.

He stands and throws the contents of the towel into the trash, shaking it out before kneeling down again to mop up the liquid. Please, say something Marinette, say anything. When he stands again, he avoids looking at her, facing the counter instead with the wet towel bundled in his hand.

“If it helps,” he starts again, gentler this time, “you already told me you were in love with me a long time ago.”

“I heard you the first time.” She takes a deep breath. “And if I remember correctly, that ended with you telling me you couldn’t return my feelings because you were in love with Ladybug.”

“We were just kids, Marinette.”

She makes a time out motion. “I need some air.” She turns on her heel then and leaves the kitchen. Adrien hears Alya ask her where she’s going, but the only response is the front door opening and closing. That temper. That stubbornness. He has two options. He can let her go and process on her own, just wait it out.

Or he could go after her.

He chucks the towel into the sink with a wet thud.

He barely has time to register Alya and Nino’s concerned faces as he runs past them, pausing only long enough to get the door open and close it behind himself. Marinette is on a park bench across the street, talking to herself it seems, with very animated hand movements.

Adrien starts towards her, but then he notices the little red kwami that darts out of her purse to fly up to her face. He knew he was right. He knew it and there’s the proof. Plagg squirms in his shirt pocket.

“Well, are you going after her or what?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize I veer a bit into headcanon here. I really think that Adrien probably knows how Marinette feels and doesn't say anything to preserve their friendship. Also, Marinette's response might seem a bit unwarranted, but she does have a temper, in this story she does have alcohol in her system, and this is a high-stakes conversation for her. Also also, kwami sighting! This was going to be the last chapter, but there was a lot going on, and still a lot to resolve, so I split it up and upped the chapter number. Thank you for reading!


	5. Kwami Talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If A=B and B=C....  
> Tikki tries to fix things and Plagg… well, Plagg just wants to see what happens.

Tikki’s Pep Talk

“M, where are you going?” Alya asks her, bewildered.

Marinette only just remembers to grab her purse off the entryway table before she closes the door behind her. Truth is, she doesn’t know. But she lets her feet pick a direction and starts walking. She unclasps her purse so Tikki can peek out.

“Marinette, why are you running away from Adrien?”

“Because, Tikki, he was working on letting me down gently and I don’t think I can handle that.” She shakes her head. Friendship. He didn’t want to lose their friendship.

“You don’t know that. And you didn’t really give him the chance to say much of anything.”

Marinette’s pace picks up as she replays the conversation in her head. It all happened so fast.

“I didn’t have to, Tikki. Adrien is Chat Noir. Chat Noir rejected Marinette for Ladybug, which means Adrien rejected Marinette for Ladybug, which means he was about to reject me again.”

“But Marinette, you are Ladybug.”

“I know that, Tikki, but Adrien doesn’t.” Even though he apparently knew she had a crush on him this entire time. At least one of her secrets was still safe. “And if Ladybug suddenly starts returning Chat’s feelings, it won’t be that big of a jump for him to figure it out. So now I have to figure out how to hide my feelings for Adrien when I’m with Chat.”

Marinette flops onto a bench she’s found not far from Alya’s. She can go back in when she’s had a minute to think. Her head is starting to pound uncomfortably and it’s hard to keep her thoughts straight.

“Is this really about your secret identity, Marinette?”

Marinette sighs heavily. “No, it’s not.” She covers her face with her hands. “This is all wrong, Tikki.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean: I didn’t exactly imagine that a lie I threw out such a long time ago to cover my ass would actually be my first confession to Adrien, let alone that he would remember it. I mean: I thought Chat and I would reveal ourselves together when this was all over–”

“Marin–”

“–but then he’s out there clowning around, as usual, and now I know and he doesn’t and I’m left with cleaning up the mess. I mean: I wanted this to be memorable and special and now it’s ruined all because I listened to Alya for like .2 seconds–”

“Marinette?”

“–and it made too much sense and then he actually responded to my bell question even though it was supposed to be a joke, and then he did that stupid impression and we’re not even going to mention the eyebrow thing–”

Tikki zooms out of her purse to get in her face.

“Marinette!”

Marinette clamps her mouth shut when Tikki finally breaks through her rambling.

“Sorry, Tikki.”

“Nothing is ruined, Marinette, and this is definitely memorable. But you have to go back and talk to him.” Tikki lays a paw on Marinette’s cheek. Marinette sighs. Sometimes Tikki makes too much sense.

“You’re right.” Then she bites her lip, anticipating Tikki’s reaction to her next question. “Do you think I should tell him?”

Tikki hesitates. “It’s your choice, Marinette.”

“I thought you might say that.” Marinette cups Tikki in her hands and lets Tikki nuzzle her cheek for a moment. “I guess we should go back inside.”

Plagg’s Pep Talk

“Well, are you going after her or what?”

“Plagg, Marinette is Ladybug.”

Plagg zooms out of his shirt pocket to face him. “Yeah, what else is new?”

“Wait, how long have you known?”

“Since Dark Owl. Sugarcube knows you, too, by the way. I don’t see you chewing her out for not telling Marinette.” Plagg sticks his nose in the air, crossing his arms.

Adrien pinches the bridge of his nose, trying not to be annoyed with Plagg’s sarcasm at a time like this.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute. If Marinette is Ladybug…”

“Yes?”

“If Marinette is Ladybug and Marinette has had a crush on me, then the boy that Ladybug said she was in love with…”

“You’re getting warmer!”

“The boy Ladybug was in love with… was me the entire time?”

“Ding ding ding! A prize for the winner!” Plagg spins triumphantly.

Adrien’s brow furrows. “But she ran away from me, Plagg. Do you think she’s upset that I’m Chat Noir?”

“Who knows. It’s too complicated for me to follow.”

“That’s not helpful.”

“Well, why don’t you go ask her, then?” Plagg pretends to pout, but Adrien can see him peek up out of the corner of his eye.

He looks up and Tikki is nuzzling Marinette’s cheek. Tikki flies back into Marinette’s purse and Marinette stands from the bench. When she catches sight of him standing outside, she pauses. For the second time of the night, their eyes lock together and a whole new current of understanding flows between them.

“Well, here goes, Plagg.” He opens his shirt pocket for Plagg to zip inside. “Wish me luck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day these two will figure out their communication skills (at least we all hope). Can I just say that rambling Marinette was fun, but also really hard to write? Thank you for reading!


	6. La Vie En Rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh yeah, it's all coming together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ Some mood music](https://youtu.be/nyaLIgXm5l0?t=29), for those interested
> 
> Special thanks to Firewall_Xceed_Dragon, WonderBat91939, Calerose, and TheMiraculousAdmiral for encouraging me to post more than just the one shot I had planned!  
> Also, thank you to all of those who've left kudos and comments on this story. This is my first multi-chapter fic and seeing how much you all have enjoyed reading it made me want to keep going and make it the best I could.

When Adrien starts towards Marinette, it reminds him of an experiment he and Nathalie did when he was a kid. A magnet and a paperclip. It seemed to him at the time that no matter how far away the paperclip was, it always zoomed back to the magnet. He was right, in a way. Marinette is his magnet. He had always been moving towards her.

She looks like a dream, with the lamplight haloing around her in the misty evening air, waiting for him.

He closes the distance without noticing, and then he’s in front of her. She gives him a small wave.

“Hi… Adrien.”

“Hi, Marinette.”

He needs to say something, he knows, but where could he possibly start? Should he crack a joke like he would as Chat? No, she already thinks he’s a flirt and that he’s never serious. Point out the obvious, maybe? ‘Hey, you’re Ladybug, that’s cool,’ but that just seems like a jerk move.

He rubs the nape of his neck. He’s never not known what to say to either Ladybug or Marinette. When his arm drops, he fiddles with his ring instead. The only thing keeping him calm is that Plagg’s weight is still nestled against him in his usual spot.

Marinette shifts uncomfortably. “About…what you saw… um, that’s just my rare hairless flying cat that I got from the kingdom of Atchoo when I-”

“No, that was Ladybug’s kwami, Tikki.” His lips twitch in amusement. Really, Marinette? Did she think he hadn’t figured it out?

Plagg zooms out of Adrien’s pocket carrying the small piece of camembert that Adrien always has on him. “Secret’s out, Sugarcube, can we go now? They’re about to be all mushy and I don’t want to lose my appetite.”

Tikki peeks out of Marinette’s purse uncertainly. “Are you okay, Marinette?”

“I…yeah, I think so. You two go ahead.” The two kwamis zoom away to nestle in a nearby tree, leaving the two of them alone.

Her eyes dart to his hand, to the ring he’s worn since collège. “So, it’s really you, then?”

“Yeah, it’s really me.”

“I’m not dreaming?”

“Funny, I thought the same thing.” He can’t help smirking. She rolls her eyes at him and relaxes. Better. “Good to know you dream about me, though. And you think I look hot in the suit. I’ll have to keep that on the back burner.” He wiggles his eyebrows at her and she shoves his shoulder and it feels like they’re on solid ground again. Or at least less shaky ground. Might as well just go for it. “I’m sorry if I upset you earlier.”

“Oh, no, you didn’t. I mean, I was upset, but it’s just that I had it in my head that—well I mean to say, I didn’t expect–”

“You didn’t expect me to be Chat Noir?” He can’t hide the disappointment in his voice.

Of course. Marinette likes Adrien. Ladybug doesn’t like Chat. Must be a shock for her to realize the guy she had built up in her head is the same dork she had to turn down a million times. Maybe he should’ve quit while he was ahead. After all, did he really want to know the answer to that question?

“That’s not it.” She takes his hand in hers, squeezing it gently. Whatever had been clutching at his heart released in an instant. “I didn’t expect any of this-” she gestures between them, “to go like this.” She pauses, looking down at their linked hands and she seems to take some strength from it. She takes a deep breath before she continues. “You know, I once planned an elaborate, romantic outing for us, just so I could tell you how I felt?”

He raises his eyebrows at this. “More elaborate than a rooftop filled with roses and candles?”

Her hand slips out of his to cover her mouth. “Oh my God, Adrien. The rooftop.”

He reaches out to her again, but he pulls her into his chest so she can hide her face from him. “It’s okay, Marinette.”

“No, but I-”

“I said, it’s okay.” He rubs her back.

She nuzzles against him, then wraps her arms around his waist. A silence falls between them, but it’s comfortable. He thinks back on every time he fell a little more for Ladybug, and each time he fell harder for Marinette. They’ve always been intertwined in his heart, and he had struggled for so long with the guilt of loving them both. If Marinette had only confessed sooner. He had been waiting for a sign, for her to make that move and tell him she wanted more. He never gave up on either of them. And now here she is, the woman with his entire heart, in his arms at last. He kisses the top of her head.

“You know, this is easier without the bell,” she mumbles.

He snorts. That’s where her mind went? “Oh, come on, what is it with you and my bell? Seriously, what do you have against it?”

“It jingles constantly-”

“All the better so you know where I am during a fight.” He feels her face scrunch against him. She pulls away so she can argue with him better.

“When I hug you it gets tangled in my hair.”

“Okay, that’s a fair point. But, counterpoint, it is cute.”

“I guess I can’t argue with that,” she says.

“Huh, what was that?”

“I said it’s cute, okay?”

“No, no, you said-”

“Fine. I said I can’t argue with you.”

“I’m sorry, can you just repeat that one more time, I just want to get this on record.” His hand travels to his pocket, pretending to go for his phone.

She shoves him away playfully. “Oh, shut up already.” She realizes her mistake a moment too late. He pauses, letting it sink in.

“Make me.” He smirks at her, narrowing his eyes in his most classic Chat expression. “I dare you.”

Her jaw sets in the way he’s very familiar with. She’s up to this challenge. With bright red cheeks, she grabs the collar of his overshirt with both hands, pulling him down to her. For a moment, their faces are less than a half inch away from each other, but they’re both too stunned to close the distance.

Behind him, Adrien hears the front door slam open.

“Yeah, get it girl!” Alya. Adrien can’t help but smile. Impeccable timing, as always. Marinette is like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Don’t mind her,” Nino says, loudly enough for it to carry across to them. Adrien hears a light scuffle behind him.

“But what about the ship!”

“Babe, if you want the ship to sail, you need to go back inside.”

“But-”

The door slams shut again. Thank you, Nino. He leans his forehead against Marinette’s, which seems to bring her back to herself.

“How about a do-over?” he murmurs. She still has his collar in her fists.

“A do-over?”

“Yes. You, me, dinner, roof-top style?”

She hesitates, her hands softening to lay on his shoulders instead. “As us or as superheroes?”

“Whichever, although it might be hard to get to our rooftop without your yoyo.”

She nods thoughtfully, meeting his eyes. They’re so close. All he would have to do is lean a little farther forward and their lips would meet. But he's hers to take. She’s always called the shots, anyways. She slides one of her hands down from his shoulder, her fingers lingering in the hollow between his collarbones, right where his bell sits. A devilish grin spreads across her face.

“So I guess you’ll be there with bells on?”

Oh, that was a good one. His lips twitch and he barely avoids smiling before he fixes his face into a pout. She’s giggling at her own joke, which is impossibly cute. When she catches the look on his face, her giggles turn into abandoned laughter. That was the effect he was going for. Her laughter is contagious, always has been, and he drops his act to join in.

Eventually their laughter dies down. She meets his eyes, and yes, they’ve always been that blue, the color of a summer sky, he’s just never let himself see it before. She slides her hands up over his chest. Her fingers find the nape of his neck and start to curl into his hair. There’s an electricity that thrums between them. Something different from anything he’s ever felt. He has to close his eyes at the intensity of it, and his fingers curl into the fabric of her shirt. Her breath catches. Hesitantly, he leans down, hoping against hope that she’ll come up to meet him.

He feels her hips shift when she goes up on her toes. She meets his lips softly at first, shyly, a light brush of his skin. He circles the small of her back with his arms, supporting her and pulling her closer all at once. He presses his lips more firmly on hers, and her hand tangles into his hair. They deepen the kiss together, falling into it as easy as breathing.

When he starts to feel lightheaded, he pulls away as little as he can, his top lip still brushing against hers. He can feel that he’s smiling, but he can’t seem to stop. When he opens his eyes, she’s smiling at him, too.

She starts to lower herself back down, but he’s not ready to let her go at all. So instead he lifts her entirely off the ground and spins her around. She squeals, clinging to his neck tighter and hiding her face in his shoulder.

He sets her back on her feet reluctantly, her squeals of delight echoing in his mind.

“I guess we’d better get back inside?” he asks. Please say no, please say we can stay out here all night.

She glances at the front door and sighs. “Yeah, they’re probably wondering what happened to us.”

“Or Alya’s been filming from the window this entire time.”

“You know, I wouldn’t put it past her.” Marinette touches her lips lightly. “But I hope she sends it to me if she was.”

“Me, too.” They pause together again, then Marinette flicks his nose.

“Race you back inside, Kitty?”

“Right behind you, Milady.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited to fix some of the clunky prose I wasn't happy with and to address a few loose ends from previous chapters.


End file.
